I’m not sure if the three-game winning streak in Jacksonville has sunk into our collective subconscious as fully as it deserves to. Every once in a while I run into stories that help bring it into perspective, though, like this one about Florida receiver Solomon Patton, for whom things were going so well in 2012. Until…

Then it all came crashing down in the biggest game of the season against hated rival Georgia.

Patton was dragged down from behind, broke his arm when he hit the ground and just like that his season was done. In the blink of an eye Patton’s firs real opportunity to be an impact player was taken away. Suddenly that sad, lonely, empty feeling he felt as a freshman paled in comparison to what he felt as a junior.

“My mindset [after the injury] was that I was done. I felt like I had just finally got my chance and then I just hit rock bottom having my arm broken,” he said. “That was the saddest time. I was sad every day, all day. My parents, everybody just tried to keep me encouraged but that was real hard. I had finally got my shot and I felt like I was doing my best to take advantage of it and it was all over. It was pretty hard.”

This is ordinarily the kind of story we used to read about some hapless kid suiting up in the red and black. Except it’s not.

Sadly, the article left out my favorite Patton moment – the senior getting baited by Leonard Floyd, of all people, into committing a personal foul that pushed his team back just far enough to lead to a whiffed field goal attempt in a game that Florida lost by three. Again, that’s the kind of knuckleheaded moment you’d expect from our side. Except it wasn’t.

Mind projection much? Just because you feel that way about beating a 4-8 team is something magnificent, don’t assume all UGA fans agree with you. I for one don’t. Our season was a complete disaster, we didn’t even finished ranked. I don’t choose to mind project, you clearly do. To each his own.

A better question is whether he understands his own straw man. Best part of the season this year does not get defined by Bennie as an argumentative construct; the Senator never said that was the best part of the season. I would assert it was the LSU and SC games where we still had some of our weapons, but unlike Bennie, I do not speak for the Senator.

As for the Florida win, I enjoy them however Georgia can get them. It’s pretty obvious that they usually won the ball bounces in the past and its certainly nice to see the shoe on the other foot.

Absolutely – I remember driving around Jacksonville with cars with “Gators for Goof” all over them. I’ll never forget ’95 in Sanford and that’s the primary reason I never want the game to go home-and-home because I don’t want Athens defiled again by Jort Nation.

There’s plenty of us who live on the front lines here in Jax, and believe me we don’t take the 3 game streak or the article you posted for granted. It looks as if the 20 year old winter is finally behind UGA. I still enjoy watching the GA/Fla replay on Sun Sports with Mick Hubert…..good stuff.

Don’t think Bobby F is “from around heah” if you know what I mean. No one is celebrating his injury, just the emotional acceptance that the world has gotten back in alignment for this series, finally. There were many Dawg fans who had let FU get into their heads, and that was dumb. This rivalry will always be relevant and intense, even when one team is on a cyclical hot streak. Now the FU fans who told us our series lead was too historical for us to ever mention know how it feels.

The Spurrier/Goff matchup is now one that predates all current players puberty. Don’t bring up the 90’s any more guys, let’s focus on what has happened since these guys began driving, or first reported to college campuses. As with UGA fans, don’t begin to think you should move the game from JAX because you cannot beat us there, you will win again sometime in the next few years. Focus on the next game, you cannot do anything about those recent losses and those teams will never play again. Heads up, Gators, we aren’t mocking you and we still respect you as a rival. We would rather beat you next year knowing that you felt you had a chance, much more fun to burst your dreams.

The streak has negative fallout in that no gator will bet on next year. No amount of spread, no straight up bets (like I’ve had for 3 yrs with some); no amount of persuasion can dent their preordained excuse (“We are just waiting to get rid of Muschamp and probably Foley”) for 2014. They are a sorry lot whose loyalties blow with the wind. They duck when the subject of next year’s bet rolls around. They don’t even follow their team anymore and have no idea that Purifoy and Easly have jumped early until you tell them. Many won’t even talk CFB, but especially the FSU game this last year.

Personally, I think they will be back with a vengeance next year and the game will be hard fought again. No pity and give no quarter.

Getting a new hip tomorrow. After I rehab a thought may enter my mind about those pitiful gators, but mostly the thoughts will be bad toward them as long as there is a hitch in my git-a-long.

My yearly UF straight up bet went on for years…I am guessing more than 10, and I paid every time for most of those years. After winning 2 years ago my gator friend didnt pay up and now wont even talk to me about football.

All the best to you. You’ll be in my prayers for successful surgery and recuperation! Just had a new hip surgery myself. All I can say is it was,well worth it to,have my life back again….and I daresay that the injured players are likewise extra grateful and work with more vigor when they are again healthy. Really gives a person perspective to have their mobility taken away. How much harder we work to enjoy that freedom again!

If UF goes 0-12 or 12-0 and we beat them its still Florida. Sat in the swamp when they blew us out and would not leave until the game was over. I don’t care what their record is at the end of the season. Beating #4 South Carolina and SOS was just as big to me. I feel the same about Auburn and Ga Tech. Hate them

“…dragged down from behind.” Revisionist b.s. As I recall, Williams damn near took his head off running straight at him. Dawgs were definitely laying the wood on fu that day. Patton wasn’t the only fu playere being carted off the field

Bloviation for the Dawgnation

Quote Of The Day

“It's definitely different not knowing exactly who it's gonna be, but in a way, I feel like that's good,” he said. “One of my old coaches from Valdosta told me that competition is one of the best coaches. And I feel like, as well as each one of those three guys is performing, they're not gonna do anything but make each other better.” -- Jay Rome, The Red & Black, 3/25/15